The present invention relates generally to electrical connection mounting. More particularly, the present invention relates to assemblies for mounting electric boxes to one or more wall studs. Even more particularly, this invention pertains to universal brackets upon which numerous types or depths of electric boxes may be mounted in various locations, and methods of performing the same.
Electric boxes are mounted upon walls to support electrical devices such as light switches, outlets or any other electrical device. Walls are generally formed against wooden or metal studs, although metal of a channel configuration is particularly common in modern residential and commercial applications. In such applications, electric boxes tend to be supported by assemblies, frames or brackets that are in turn mounted to the metal studs or to other components that rest directly on the floor. Many types of these assemblies, frames or brackets have been in use for more than thirty years.
The electric boxes are supported in many fashions. They may be fastened directly to a wall stud, albeit this method is generally discouraged on metal studs for practical reasons. They may rest within a bracket that attaches along one side to a vertical wall stud. They may rest within a bracket that extends between and is attached to two vertical wall studs. They may also be supported by a different bracket resting directly on the floor and not making contact with a wall stud at all. Traditional methods of mounting such electric boxes therefore require electricians or the like to maintain a complete stock of each type of mounting bracket that may be necessary as the situation demands.
Another difficulty that arises is the need to physically attach each electric box to the appropriate mounting bracket in the field. In many applications, the electric box may not be permanently attached until after the mounting bracket is in place on the wall stud, and the electric box in such situations will often become partially or completely dislodged from the bracket. These burdensome and time-consuming efforts are in addition to the subsequent requirement of fastening a faceplate, or plaster ring, onto the electric box for permanent attachment. Certain aspects of the prior art have attempted to address this problem with locking devices that extend from the front of a mounting bracket to engage an electrical box and prevent such movement. However, these locking devices have only been effective for boxes of a particular size and are therefore impractical for a desired universal application. These locking devices are in many cases further impractical because a user cannot install an electrical box and lock it into place after the bracket has already been screwed into a structural member. Other examples of locking devices address these previous problems, but undesirably obstruct clearance holes for fastening screw heads and impede progress of fastening screws through the front plate of a mounting bracket.
New methods of wiring buildings now require that many electrical boxes arrive at a building construction site pre-fabricated. As such, many electric boxes now come to the building construction site already connected within a mounting bracket, with devices installed and with wire connections already in place. However, this method still requires complex specifications to be made for pre-fabrication prior to assembly and delivery to the construction site. Some examples of the details that must be considered in determining the proper mounting bracket include: the spacing of the wall studs (typically 16″ or 24″, but in practice anywhere from 3″ to 24″); the depth of the electric boxes (1½″ to 3½″); the square dimension of the box (4″×4″ or 4 11/16″×4 11/16″); the desired location of the box either on a stud or suspended between two studs; if the desired location is between two studs, is the box to be mounted in a random or specified location; the number and depth of boxes to be mounted between studs; and the height above the floor (12″, 15″ or 18″).
The prior art in pre-fabricated electric box assemblies, including mounting brackets, has only tended to address individual issues from the group described above. For example, certain brackets have been developed for electric boxes of a particular size but are generally not used for other applications. Certain other mounting devices have been developed for mounting electric boxes of any depth between two wall studs, but these devices are also used only in particular applications. Quite literally dozens of devices are therefore available to address each conceivable variation of conditions. This variety of solutions is available at the expense of a great deal of time and money required to manufacture, ship, sort through, specify and install each of these devices as needed. Obviously, the mounting devices as known in the prior art have not been conducive to flexibility in the field, where the circumstances required for installing the box at the specified locations are generally unknown until the time of actual installation at the building construction site. Maximum flexibility is most critical when electrical boxes must be pre-fabricated, as is frequently the case.
Another current problem that is not adequately addressed by the prior art is an efficient and inexpensive height setting device for mounting electrical boxes. Currently, an electrician or the like must often measure distances from the floor by hand. This is undesirable in that human error is inherently possible. While prior art non-measurement height setting means have been developed, they only have a single application and are therefore undesirable and prohibitively expensive.
Therefore, it would be desirable to replace each of the dozens of currently available solutions by providing a mounting device that could universally be applied to each potential application, whether on-site or prefabricated, and without regards to each of the details that must be considered in the field when selecting a device.
It would be further desirable to provide a mounting device that could in a single orientation mount an electric box of various sizes or dimensions in various desired fashions or locations.
It would be further desirable to provide a single mounting bracket that could accommodate one or more electric boxes and still in a single orientation mount the boxes in any desired location, or to provide a plurality of mounting brackets that could easily be combined to accommodate the same one or more electric boxes in the same fashion.
It would be even further desirable to provide a mounting bracket that could substantially prevent an electric box from slipping or becoming dislodged from a desired position prior to permanent fastening of the box to the bracket, regardless of whether or not the bracket has already been fastened to a wall stud.
It would be even further desirable to provide a universal device having height setting means for consistently mounting electrical boxes a desired distance from a floor or from a ceiling, without requiring hand measurement by an electrician or the like.